Have Patience, Will Travel

WINDSOR LOCKS — As they scrambled to gather luggage at the Delta baggage claim Sunday night, Edward and Liz Barry of Woodbury had this to be thankful for: They and 29 other family members had a smooth flight back from their Thanksgiving trip to Florida.

On one of the busiest travel days of the year, the Barry clan was part of the crowd at Bradley International Airport.

Airport officials said the airlines had booked planes about 98 percent full, and most travelers reported seeing no seat left empty. Lines began building at airport security checkpoints about 3 p.m., as those boarding outbound flights began overlapping with arrivals.

The Barry family made it without a hitch. ``The plane was full, but everything was fine,'' Liz Barry said, beaming. She said 17 of the couple's 22 grandchildren were among the group that celebrated a Mickey Mouse Thanksgiving at Disney World.

Bernie Rosen of Cromwell, a volunteer staffing the information desk in Terminal A, has seen the ebb and flow many times. He said the peak would come between 7:30 and 8 p.m. Sunday. ``People leave at staggered times'' throughout the last day of a holiday weekend, he said, ``but they all arrive about the same time.''

John Spillane, who works in the airport operations office, said the airlines, which route about 275 flights a day out of Bradley, reported having sold virtually all of their 13,000 outbound and 13,000 inbound seats. Looking ahead, Spillane said today, ``is supposed to be even busier. I think some people try to avoid coming in on a Sunday.''

``It always helps when weather isn't a factor,'' he said. ``We've had some Thanksgivings where it's the middle of a snowstorm.''

``I heard it was going to be absolutely frightful, but to tell the truth it wasn't bad at all,'' said Jeanne Brelsford of South Windsor, who had taken a Delta flight from Orlando via Atlanta. She did say the wide-body Lockheed L-1011 she took to Atlanta ``was packed'' with more than 400 passengers, and the smaller Boeing 727 she took from there was just as crowded.

Shirley Taft, who works at the Paradies Shops New England Gifts store at Bradley, found a silver lining. She had sold a lot of Yale and UConn sweatshirts and other items Sunday to Thanksgiving visitors leaving the Hartford area.

``Last Sunday, I worked and it was just dead!'' she said.

Traffic levels on central Connecticut highways Sunday waxed and waned. For much of the day, roads in the Hartford region flowed smoothly, police said. But in some parts of the state, particularly I-95 near New York City, holiday weekend travel slowed to a sputter.

Bound for Albany on I-91 north in Windsor, Frank LaPorto, 36, had just taken a welcome detour, stopping for free coffee at a tent the Windsor Jaycees set up each year just off the highway on the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

He had not yet reached the Massachusetts Turnpike, where he expected to find major problems.

Like many who followed the Jaycees sign for a stretch and brace of caffeine, LaPorto faced holiday travel with a kind of fatalism. ``It's a way of life,'' he said. ``You want to see your family, and you deal with it.''

Don Trinks, one of those dispensing coffee and doughnuts, said when his group used to set up its tent on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, few stopped. So they rescheduled to appeal to return travelers.

``On the day before, people just want to get where they're going,'' Trinks said. ``They don't want to stop. It's pedal to the metal all the way.''

Jim Kennedy of New Salem, Mass., said he has greater patience than he once did. At 50, he bears the long drive with more of a grin than a grimace.

``The drive changes as you age,'' he said. ``As you get older you have a little more perspective. Getting there 10 minutes sooner doesn't matter all that much. It's better to enjoy the drive, be polite, and smile.''